"Why not First Wind?"

Working for a company named for an idiomatic expression has its challenges. On many occasions, while representing Second Wind at an event with international attendees, I have been asked in halting English, "So why not First Wind?" The best was a man from the Phillipines, who thought over the "second wind" concept and told me that "We have a saying in my country that when the typhoon returns a second time, it is stronger".

So it was with bemusement that I greeted the press releases from our Boston-area neighbor, the former UPC Wind, that they were renaming themselves First Wind. Now Boston has become like one of those towns with a First Bank and a Second Bank, or a First Church and a Second Church (I don't even understand how a company could be named "Fifth Third Bank". Why not First Bank?).

When I heard the news, I pictured an aisle in a trade show with us lined up in a row: First Wind, Second Wind, and possibly Third Planet Windpower. Instead, the juxtaposition happened much sooner than I expected. Walter was invited to give a talk for a group of Chinese wind companies this week. This is a return visit from when the Governor and dignitaries visited China in December to discuss reciprocal trade in renewables. When I got the agenda for the meeting, sure enough the CEO of First Wind, Paul Gaynor, and Walter are speaking in the same session, First Wind followed by Second Wind! I hope Paul Gaynor enjoys the irony, because I know Walter will.